When we devised our programme of talk last year, we decided that this was definitely something we wanted to address, how to build people's confidence enough for them to experiment with hats. Obviously when we are on hand this is a lot easier, so most importantly, we wanted to give our audiences the confidence to play with hats when there may not be an expert on hand.
On Monday we delivered this talk for the first time and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect audience! We joined the Tapton Ladies in one of the beautiful suites at Tapton Hall for an hour long talk, followed by a trying on session. The ladies are off to St Leger in September for Ladies Day so we knew this could help them with their shopping missions.
We covered a few of the rules and guidelines of hat wearing, not least including some of the outdated rules which are merely now just guidelines...as well as those rules which are still pertinent in modern-life. We also looked at the effect of face shape, hair style and possibly most imperative, your own style on your choice of hat.
We realise that bespoke millinery is not for everyone, so we also covered some tricks of the trade in relation to making off the peg designs work for you. This included the sizing of crowns, the positioning of headwear along with the opportunities that the option of re-trimming a hat brings.
We ended our talk with a huge trying on session and we had no shortage of volunteers! As you can see from our display there was something for everyone.
Our ladies took this tip to heart and were very happy to model for us, as well as making sure they got to keep some a record of some of the pieces that had really caught their eye!